How can I make it 3rd time lucky?

I fed my first for 2 weeks and it was disaster from start to finish and my second for 3 months but always gave bottles too but I am not pg with my 3rd and really want to exclusively BF this time. My main motivation is that we're going abroad when the baby is about 6 weeks and again at 12 weeks and the thought of sterilising in a hotel is motivation alone.

These are my issues and concerns. My main one is that neither of my children would latch onto the RH side so I fed #2 completely from the left boob. She felt like she was never off it and was never settled at the end of the feed. I got into that cycle of topping her up afterwards because I felt completely empty and couldn't get her on the other side to fil up more. I expressed from the RH side and the supply held up pretty well but I know that this topping up was detrimental to the feeding.

Because of the above issue I suspect that I may have had supply issues as I couldn't settle her on BF alone and therefore night feeds were a nightmare with constant feeding and me then giving her a bottle. I really want to avoid bottles at night but with 2 school age children cannot sit up feeding all night as I need to be able to be there for them during the day. I never mastered feeding lying down but have no issues with co-sleeping so would love to be able to. It was so much easier just to give a bottle and know that 20 minutes later we'd all be settled and back in bed.

We now have a breastfeeding group at a local childrens centre which wasn't there before and I'm definately going to go to that but I really need to know that I can make it work this time. I have been given the number of a BF woman who will come over but she's a)expensive and b) hasn't had any of her own children which puts me off as I think that there are so many emotional issues to BF that she can't understand them even though she may know how to advise practically.

It's the thought of how convenient it will be to not to take bottles / formula and sterilising stuff away with me that's keeping me going not to mention that the first thing my DH said when I told him we were having another baby was that he's not going to be on sterilising duty for a third time.

How can I make this work and not drown in exhaustion which is the bit that's freaking me out. Mind you, I'm up for drinks / lost toys / toilet trips 3 times a night anyway with my other 2 so perhaps it won't be that bad.

My survival kit for breastfeeding would definately include the LLL helpline no. 0845 120 2918. They will come out and see you if you have problems in the early days but even just talking to an expert (who has breastfed) can make all the difference. They helped me through many a BF crisis.

It's brillian that you have a BF group nearby but you also need the help and support of DH. I would make it clear before the baby arrives what things he can do to make your life easier. He might miss the sterlising!

You definately can make this work- I think that the combination of expert advice and good support at home/ the BF group will make a huge difference to you, it certainly did with me.